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CHIEFS CLAIM WR CHRIS CHAMBERS
November 3rd – 4:14 PM

The Chiefs have claimed WR Chris Chambers off waivers from San Diego. Chambers was released yesterday by the Chargers.

The former Dolphin and Charger has 482 career receptions for 6,827 yards and 53 TDs. He entered the NFL as a second-round pick with Miami in 2001.

With RB Larry Johnson on the reserve/suspended list, the Chiefs did not need to release any players in order to complete the transaction. Kansas City’s roster now sits at 53 active players.

A STEADY DOSE OF JONES-DREW
November 3rd – 3:58 PM

The odds are that Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew is in line for some serious action this weekend. This past weekend, Jones-Drew didn’t get his hands on the football until the 5:50 mark in the second quarter. That’s nearly 25 minutes, and for Jacksonville, that’s flat out unacceptable.

Jacksonville began last Sunday’s game in Tennessee with nine consecutive pass attempts. The game plan didn’t call for that, but QB David Garrard continually called audibles to pass plays during the first three possessions of last Sunday’s game.

“Look, just hand it to (Jones-Drew) and let him run with the ball,” Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio eventually instructed Garrard.

During the Jags fourth possession of the day, the football finally went to their primary play maker. The result…an 80-yard TD run across the middle of the football field…see ya later Michael Griffin.

On the first play of the second half, Jones-Drew broke off a 79-yard TD run. At that point, he had five carries for 172 yards. Wow. He finished the day with 177 yards on just eight carries.

The Jaguars offense begins and ends with Maurice Jones Drew. Besides his 801 total yards from scrimmage, Jones-Drew also leads the NFL with 10 TDs. Six of those TDs have come from 50 yards or more - not a good sign for a Chiefs defense who has struggled with allowing the big play to become a game breaker this year.

Jones-Drew is also the fastest player in Jaguars history to reach 50 career TDs (54 games). If you take a look at the 20 most prolific scorers in NFL history among running backs, only Marcus Allen, Jim Brown Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson have reached 50 career TDs quicker than Jones-Drew.

Yeah, it’s safe to say that Del Rio will make sure 25 minutes don’t pass before Jones-Drew gets his first touch on Sunday. Expect a barrage of #32 early and often this Sunday. The question now becomes, how do you stop him?

LEGGETT COULD FILL EMERGENCY ROLE
November 3rd – 10:54 AM

With both Jon McGraw and Jarrad Page missing yesterday’s practice, the Chiefs situation at free safety becomes clouded. Speculation has surrounded Page and whether his latest injury, suffered last Thursday, will be season ending. Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said yesterday that he would no longer comment on injuries unless they were major. Just minutes later he revealed that Page had been injured and announced that he would comment on the matter during his next press conference.

The simple fact that Haley is willing to comment on Page’s injury in the future, leaves speculation as to the severity of Page’s latest malady. The safety situation, followed by the running back and offensive line situations leave the door open for the Chiefs to do a bit of shuffling as the week progresses.

So here’s how the Chiefs roster shakes out. With RB Larry Johnson suspended, Kansas City has an open roster slot that they can fill for this weekend. The assumed transaction is that the club will activate RB Kolby Smith from the PUP list. Presuming that Johnson returns to the team on Tuesday, the Chiefs would then have to make another roster move, releasing a player to get to the mandatory 53-men.

But here is where it gets cloudy. What if both McGraw and Page are unable to play on Sunday? Who plays free safety? There is Ricky Price from the practice squad and that’s about it, unless either Mike Brown or Dajuan Morgan can move over from their strong safety post. If McGraw can play, expect the Chiefs to save a roster spot and use CB Maurice Leggett to fill in as the back-up/emergency free safety. Leggett was taking reps at free safety yesterday in practice, alongside Price.

Also, don’t forget about Darryl Harris, the Chiefs practice squad lineman who ran as the team’s second center behind Wade Smith while Rudy Niswanger was out last week. Just because Niswanger was able to put pads on yesterday, doesn’t mean that he’s in playing condition yet. Niswanger was originally thought to have a serious knee injury, but has apparently made remarkable strides since originally going down vs. San Diego. We’ll know more about his condition as the week progresses.

There are a number of different things that can happen which will take the Chiefs roster a number of different ways leading up to Sunday’s game in Jacksonville. The only certainty right now is that the Chiefs have one roster space available. The Chiefs will have to use that opening wisely.

CHARLES: “I’M READY”
November 3rd – 5:41 AM

It’s all Jamaal, all the time, as the spotlight at Arrowhead continues to shine on RB Jamaal Charles. For the first time in his career, the former 2008 third-round pick entered a week of prep-work as a starting NFL running back. Charles, admittedly, would be lying if he said that he didn’t realize the realm of the opportunity he’s presented with.

“I’m ready,” Charles said. “It’s my NFL dream and I’d be pleasured to take the job right now.”

He’s been the center of the rushing attack before, albeit in the college game. But this time, it just feels a bit different for Jamaal.

“Yeah, it’s different,” Charles admitted. “I’m going to go out there and I’ll probably be the first one to touch the ball behind the quarterback this week, so mind mindset is real different.”

After inking his name into the University of Texas record books alongside the likes of historic Longhorn runners such as Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson and Chris Gilbert, Charles is finally getting his NFL opportunity 21 games into his professional career. Twenty-one games isn’t that long of a time to wait, but when you rushed for the fourth-most yards (3,328) in Texas history after spending just three seasons in the collegiate game, 21 games likely seems like an eternity.

Still, despite being an every-down collegiate back, Charles has plenty of doubters in regards to his ability to handle a full-time NFL workload.

“I can handle anything,” Charles said. “I’ve been playing football for a long time, so it doesn’t matter about how many carries I get. I’ve had 25 at Texas before, so it doesn’t really matter how many.”

Charles isn’t tiny, but he certainly isn’t big either. Standing at 5-11, 199, Charles is a burner with game changing moves in the open field. He’s all about making people miss and turning in the big play, while his physical attributes are similar to Titans second-year RB Chris Johnson. Chiefs fans might remember Johnson’s 18-carry, 168-yard performance last season at Arrowhead. Ok, Chiefs fans definitely remember Chris Johnson.

On Sunday vs. Jacksonville, Johnson set a single-game rushing record from a Jags opposing running back with 24 carries for 288 yards. A true home-run hitter, Johnson scored on runs of 52 and 89 yards. Standing at the same height and just one pound heavier than Charles, the similarities of Johnson and Charles’ game are visible to the naked eye.

“Me and Chris (Johnson) are similar players,” Charles said. “He just went out there and made plays for the team. Most of the stuff that he did was on his own. If I just do the stuff that I do when I go in the game over here, go and make plays for the team, I can do the same thing.”

A major difference between the two plays is that Johnson has gotten that chance to show what he can do game-in, game-out. Charles, on the other hand, has not had that opportunity. He’s battled a number of adjustments to the pro game while waiting to earn an opportunity behind a former pro bowl runner.

“I think he’s doing everything on his end to be ready to go,” Haley said. “He’s probably our best pass protector as a back as far as understanding who’s he supposed to block. He’s really improved at that and he’s listened to Coach Mo [Carthon] who’s stayed on him pretty hard from the start. I think he’s getting better. We’ll see how it goes but it’s an opportunity for Jamaal.”

Everyone sees the opportunity ahead for Jamaal Charles. Charles sees it, Haley sees it and the fans see it. He looks to be in the right place at the right time heading to face a Jacksonville defense that yielded 305 yards on the ground to a winless team just less than 48 hours ago.

It’s easy to get excited about Charles’ chances after watching a similar back in Johnson slash his way through tackle after tackle to lead the ridiculous Titans ground effort produced on Sunday. Unfortunately, Johnson’s day is not the norm for the Jags. Johnson was the first player to rush for 100 yards against Jacksonville this season, and even after ballooning the Jaguars opponent rushing yards per game number, that average still sits below seven teams at 128.3 yards per game. (The Chiefs currently yield 131.0).

“We just have to go up there and make plays,” Charles said. “We know that Jacksonville still has a good defense and isn’t going to let anybody come up in there and run in their own house. I still have to come in there and play well, and execute all of my plays real good.”

We’ll likely hear more chatter involving Charles throughout the week – he’s the center of attention right now at Arrowhead. In the end, however, it will be his performance this Sunday that does the real speaking.

If Charles is mentally tough, assignment sound and doesn’t turn over the football, he will give the Chiefs a chance to win the football game.

…and if he can knock out a few of those long runs, that wouldn’t hurt either!